EU Vice President in Cyprus To Discuss Granting EU Citizenship

European Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen is on a two-day visit to Cyprus, which began on Monday.

Katainen is visiting Nicosia amid discussions on the setting of common EU-wide rules on how EU member states should grant European citizenship to non-EU nationals.

”The European Commission has established an expert group to consider how to create fully transparent rules on the granting of EU citizenship by member states” Katainen said from Nicosia. The rules must be stringent “in order to avoid tax evasion, money laundering or security threats”, according to the Commission Vice President.

“Everyone knows that all European citizens have enormous opportunities. Those who have an EU nationality, have the right to do almost anything they want in our Union,” Katainen noted. He adding that “that is why we need to make sure that we know who the people are in our Union.”